Title: Faith in Ephada / Mark 7:31-37
Description Jesus went to a region called Decapolis on the east side of the Sea of Galilee. The Decapolis is a Gentile city inhabited by ten Greek cities in a union. When he was there, a deaf and speechless man came and begged him to be healed.
Verse 34 says that Jesus put saliva on his fingers and put them in his ears and tongue, and he looked up to heaven and groaned and prayed. Spitting on your hand and applying it to the affected area corresponds to the folk remedies used by Greeks and Jews at the time as a healing practice. And the fact that he prayed with groaning is an expression of the heartache that Jesus wanted to share in the suffering of the deaf and the earnest desire to heal him.
And he said that he prayed, "Ephada." The word "Ebadah" is an Aramaic word meaning "open". "Open your blind ears." "Loosen the hardened tongue." That means. Then his ears were opened, his tongue was loosed, and he was able to hear and speak. We learn a few lessons here.
First, not being able to hear is a tragedy.
All crippled people are poor people, but those who cannot hear are even more pitiful. Even if there is a good sound, you cannot hear it, and even if you have good music or advanced communication, you cannot hear it. How pathetic is this? That is why Jesus sighed and prayed, “Ephada” for the sick man. This is the pitiful picture of the deaf man in the Bible.
However, even among modern people today, there are a lot of people like this person who can't hear because their ears are blocked. A typical example is the inability to hear sounds coming from above.
The ears of the soul are blocked from hearing the holy voice of God from above. Even if you read the Bible, you cannot hear the voice of God coming from within. Even if we pray or meditate, we cannot hear the voice of God from within. Even if we are deeply buried in the beautiful nature, we do not know the hand of God who provides in that nature. It's just insensitive.
And hearing means only hearing the sounds of the body, hearing only the physiological sounds, and hearing only the sounds of desire. Or, if you listen to it every day, you will live by hearing only the stories of the world going on and on prices.
So, if you encounter things in your life that you do not understand, you are helpless. I don't know why this happened to me. I have no idea why God gave me such a thing. Because I can't hear you. So, as easy as it is, we start with resentment, complaints, and distrust. This is the frustration of the deaf who cannot hear all.
A couple prayed to God because they had no children. “Give us a child.” How earnest is the prayer topic? I prayed like that for 16 years. This couple finally got their prayers answered and conceived a child after 16 years. However, the child I had been waiting for came out after 16 years, and it turns out that he is disabled. This couple was very upset.
After the couple gave birth to a disabled child, they did not think much about it. It seems that there is clearly a will of God here, but on the other hand, I am sad, bewildered, and even feel that God is resentful.
People are all worried at this point. It is true that there is a clear will of God here, but we cannot understand the meaning because our ears are dark. So, I live with anxiety and worry. This is the deaf problem.
So the couple started to pray again, "God, what's wrong?" One day, an emotion comes into my heart. There was the voice of God that came from deep within the moved heart. "Who should I entrust this handicapped child with to nurture and pour out love, and after searching for 16 years, I entrusted it to your husband and wife."
It was only after the couple heard that voice that, in an instant, doubts disappeared, dissatisfaction disappeared, and unsolved riddles were solved. After that, the couple raised this little child with constant gratitude for giving them to them. Now that I know, I am so grateful, but because I don’t know, I live with the thought of being frustrated, dissatisfied, and unhappy.
If there is one unfortunate aspect of modern people, it is that there is no meditation. There is no meditation, and there is no preparation to hear the divine voice of God.
So the Lord took hold of the deaf man, and while sighing, he said, “Ephada.” Closed ears, open. It means to be open and to hear the voice of the world, the voice of heaven, and the voice of the neighbors. Ears must be open. A politician becomes a dictator if he cannot hear the voice of the people because he is deaf. When a knowledgeable person does not listen to his ego, he becomes arrogant. A man becomes a snob when his deaf ears prevent him from hearing sounds from above. So you have to open your ears.
Second, being unable to speak is a tragedy.
The stuffy person in the world is the one who has a mouth but cannot speak. That's why the Lord said "Ephada". In other words, you tongue, let go of what you have to say, tell what you want to say, and rebuke what you want to rebuke.
Even among today's modern people, there are many dumb people who cannot speak. For all who are silent for their own convenience, despite having to speak the truth and righteousness, are all dumb. When the world is dark and dark, if the righteous do not open their mouths, even the stones will cry out. So, the first place that dictators use their hands when trying to gain wealth is the media. Press down on the press and cover your ears and mouth.
The Israelites were brought out of Egypt by Moses. After coming to Mount Sinai, Moses climbed the mountain and prayed for 40 days. At that time, the people at the foot of the mountain gathered gold and made a golden calf, and they danced, kissed, and scolded in front of him, saying, "The God of Moses is gone, and this golden calf is our god." Aaron watched the scene until the end, but he was silent without saying a word. This is Aaron, who is known for speaking well. That is why he was sent as an ambassador to Egypt.
However, Aaron, who is known for his good speech, does not say anything even though God is being dishonored, the truth is trampled underfoot, and great calamities are about to be poured out in the future of the nation. A person who is good at speaking must stand in front of the people at such times and persuade them to distinguish right from wrong, persuade them, and prevent them from committing a sin. However, if you keep your mouth shut when you need to speak, you are a dumb person who has a mouth but cannot speak. So the Lord said that the stones would cry out. It is said that if a man does not say what he ought to say, the stones will cry out.
Among foreign films, there is a film called "General Roberet". Those who resisted the Nazis were captured and executed. However, among them, a merchant, who was neither a resistance nor a Nazi, was caught and executed with him. This man was embarrassing. So I used evil and made excuses. "I have done nothing. I have no resistance or interest in the Nazis. The only crime I have is doing business while traveling. It is unfair to die with those people I know." They spit out their mouths and write evil.
A person in the resistance who was watching the scene from the side opened his mouth as if pathetic. "Why didn't you do anything? The war went on for five years, thousands of peoples were killed by the Nazis, cities destroyed, and the country was on the verge of destruction, yet you did nothing? who are you?"
It is not innocence that you do nothing when you have to work and say nothing when you have to open your mouth. That's dumb. So the Lord sighed and put his hand on his tongue and said, "Ephada." It means "Let your tongue loose and speak what you have to say." The tongue must be released. So, you have to say what you have to say, and you must say what you have to say.
Third, more serious is an open mind.
It is a tragedy that a mute cannot speak and cannot hear, but a more serious tragedy is that they close their hearts. Because they can't hear and can't speak, they think that other people hate them, and they close their hearts and live. That is why he cried out to the Lord, “It will be opened.
When a person closes the door of his heart, he becomes unhappy. There is no communication between neighbors. You can't love people. There is no communication with God. This is a very big tragedy. Today, there are many people who live with their hearts closed. They don't try to help anyone, they don't even try to get help. He doesn't want to interfere with anyone, and he doesn't like to be interfered with. There is a greater tragedy than this.
It is not wanting to know God and not needing God. It is impossible to save those who live with their hearts closed to God. There is no way to save.
Someone sighs. "Even though I prayed for 10 years for my unbelieving husband, there is no sign of his heart being opened." We need to pray more and not be disappointed, but this is not an easy task. It is often said that when we get married, we choose someone we don't believe in and live with, "Why don't we evangelize after we get married?" Very good hope. But what we need to know here is that there are some kinds of people in the world that don't have the problem. There are some people in the world who close the door of their heart very firmly and do not try to open the door.
That is why the saying that there are people who are destined to be destroyed by God was born. How bad is this? That's why Jesus cried out, "Ephada." We must have our ears open to hear the holy voice of God above all else. We must open our mouths to proclaim and spread the word of truth and the word of the gospel. And we must live by receiving the Lord in an open heart. That's why Jesus said "Ephada".
I hope that during this time, your ears will be opened, your mouth will be opened, and your heart will be wide open. I hope that we can hear God's gracious words with our open ears. I hope you have the grace to witness the gospel with an open mouth. And I hope you can love God, love the truth, and love your neighbor with an open heart. This is the Evada faith.